August 26

• August 26, 55 BC
  Roman forces under the command of Julius Caesar invade Britain
• August 26, 1071
  The Seljuks under Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV, who is taken prisoner, at Manzikert in Eastern Turkey and conquer parts of Anatolia and Syria
• August 26, 1346
  King Edward III's 10,000-man English army actively using the English longbow annihilate a French force of 25,000 under King Philip VI at the Battle of Crecy in Normandy
• August 26, 1429
  Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris after assault which ends siege of Paris by French army
• August 26, 1648
  The Fronde, a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, begins when the Parliament of Paris opposes the centralizing policies of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV's chief minister
• August 26, 1768
  The first voyage of James Cook to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour starts to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun and to seek evidence of the postulated Terra Australis from Plymouth
• August 26, 1789
  French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a fundamental document in the history of human and civil rights
• August 26, 1843
  Charles Thurber patents a typewriter, making some important innovations
• August 26, 1879
  Little War against Spanish rule in Cuba follows the Ten Years' War
• August 26, 1896
  The Philippines' revolutionary secret society Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang Katipunan begins armed conflict with Spanish troops, which eventually ends declaring Philippines free from Spanish rule
• August 26, 1907
  Harry Houdini, a Hungarian-American illusionist, escapes from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 seconds
• August 26, 1914
  Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg, resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army, and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov
• August 26, 1976
  First outbreak of the Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire
• August 26, 1988
  Mehran Karimi Nasseri, "The terminal man", is stuck in the De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, where he will continue to reside until August 1, 2006